Hong Kong, China

HONG KONG, CHINA

www.emb.gov.hk/filemanager/en/content_1262/form7a-gn-en.pdf

NON-LOCAL HIGHER AND PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

(REGULATION) ORDINANCE (CAP.493)

GUIDANCE NOTES FOR COMPLETION OF FORM 7A -

ANNUAL RETURN OF A REGISTERED COURSE

LEADING TO A NON-LOCAL HIGHER ACADEMIC QUALIFICATION

GENERAL

These Guidance Notes should be read in conjunction with the Non-local Higher and Professional Education (Regulation) Ordinance (the Ordinance) and the Non-local Higher and Professional Education (Regulation) Rules (the Rules). Course operators are advised to refer to section 2 of the Ordinance and the Rules respectively for interpretation of the terms used.

Each form is to cover only ONE course. Photocopies of the blank form may be made. Please do not delete any item or re-arrange the sequence of the items.

The annual return will be made available for public inspection at the Non-local Courses Registry. It is therefore important that it is typewritten or hand-written neatly.

Items on the form are designed to elicit information on a registered course. Please put ‘N/A’ for item(s) not applicable and index attachments properly. Where space in the form is not sufficient, you may provide the information in separate sheets as attachments. Course operators may furnish any relevant information.

PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION

Any personal data required in this form will be used for reviewing the operation of a course according to the Ordinance. As required by the Ordinance, the data in this form shall be made available for public inspection at the Non-local Courses Registry. The data may also be disclosed to other Government departments or authorised agencies for the above-mentioned purpose. The provision of personal data by means of this form is obligatory. If you do not provide sufficient information, the Registrar may not be able to process this form. This may lead to cancellation of the registration of the course. Sections 13(1)(f) and 20 of the Ordinance are relevant. Please also note that you have the right to request for access to or correction of the personal data provided in this form. Such request should be made in writing to Executive Officer (Higher Education) at the following address:

Non-local Courses Registry

Education and Manpower Bureau

Room 3601 Hopewell Centre

183 Queen’s Road East, Wanchai

Hong Kong

(Tel No.: (852)2123 6011)

ADVICE FROM HONG KONG COUNCIL FOR ACADEMIC ACCREDITATION

The Registrar may seek advice from the Hong Kong Council for Academic Accreditation (HKCAA) in verifying the annual return. The HKCAA may approach you direct for further information in relation to the course.

SUBMISSION ARRANGEMENT

Please check that the following items are included in your submission to the Registrar:

a. The duly completed Form 7A (in duplicate); and

b. All required attachments (in duplicate).

The submission should be made to the Registrar within 6 months after the end of -

(a) a period of 12 months counting from the date of registration of the course or from any anniversary of such date; or

(b) an academic year of the course.

PAYMENT ARRANGEMENT

A crossed cheque, draft or cashier order made payable to ‘The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’ for the HKCAA’s service charge should be sent to the Registrar upon demand when the annual return has been assessed by the HKCAA. Please refer to the ‘Schedule of Fees’ for the amount payable.

ENQUIRIES

Enquiries should be addressed to:

The Registrar

Non-local Courses Registry

Education and Manpower Bureau

Room 3601 Hopewell Centre

183 Queen’s Road East, Wanchai

Hong Kong

Hotline: (852) 2520 0255 or (852) 2520 0559

Fax No.: (852) 2520 0061

E-mail Address:

SECTION A GENERAL INFORMATION

Item 4: Awarding Institution

Awarding institution is the non-local institution which confers the academic qualification, as specified in the Certificate of Registration of the course.

Item 5: Operator

The operator is the person, institution, or body, as specified in the Certificate of Registration of the course, which is in charge of the conduct of the course in Hong Kong or enters into a contract with another person under which the course is offered to that person.

Item 6: Reporting Period

The reporting period should cover

(a) the period of 12 months counting from the date of registration of the course (for the first annual return) or from any anniversary of such date (for subsequent annual returns); or

(b) an academic year of the course.

SECTION B UPDATING OF PARTICULARS PREVIOUSLY REPORTED

Items 1 & 2: Change of Particulars

The operator, the non-local institution, the local agency / representative office and the designated person are as specified in the Certificate of Registration of the course.

A ‘designated person’ is the person who has given an undertaking in the prescribed form in section I of the Form 1A in respect of a registered course. His / Her legal obligations are provided in sections 13(2)(a), 14(2)(a), 16(3)(b), 16(5)(b) and 19 of the Ordinance. If a change of the designated person is intended, please submit a new undertaking in such form as specified in Section I of Form 1A and a photocopy of the Hong Kong Identity card of the person who has signed the new undertaking.

Particulars of the operator, the non-local institution, the local agency / representative office and the designated person refer to those particulars such as status, address, telephone number, fax number, etc. as previously reported in Sections A, B, C, D and I of Form 1A or other subsequent correspondence with the Registrar.

If there are substantial changes, please re-submit the relevant sections of Form 1A as attachments to this annual return.

Please note that the operator or the designated person of a registered course is required under section 19 of the Ordinance to notify the Registrar of a change of certain particulars within one month of the change.

SECTION C PRESENT CONTACT PERSONS

Item 1: Non-local Institution Awarding the Higher Academic Qualification

Head of institution usually refers to the academic and administrative head of the institution, i.e. the Vice-Chancellor / President of a university or Principal of a college.

Course Director (Home Course) is the person who is responsible for the overall conduct of the comparable course conducted in the home country leading to the same qualification as that of the Hong Kong course. The person would be contacted by the Registry or the HKCAA for further information in relation to the home course.

Item 2: Operator of the Course Conducted in Hong Kong

If the operator is an academic institution, the executive head refers to the Vice-Chancellor / President of a university or Principal of a college.

Course Director (Hong Kong Course) is the person who is responsible for the overall conduct of the course conducted in Hong Kong. The person will be contacted by the Registry or the HKCAA for further information in relation to the Hong Kong course. In some cases, the executive head also acts as the course director.

SECTION D FEES AND REFUND

Please read section 10(3)(d) of the Ordinance and sections 4 and 6 of the Rules regarding collection and refund of fees and charges.

Generally speaking, the following fees collection arrangements are acceptable:

(a) fees covering 3 months of the course be collected within 1 month before the commencement of that part of the course;

(b) fees covering 2 months of the course be collected within 2 months before the commencement of that part of the course; and

It is important that you make the fees collection and refund arrangements clear to students before entering into contracts with them.

Item 2: Other Fees / Charges

For some courses, the course fee may not be inclusive. Other fees on application, registration, course materials, examination, graduation, etc. may be payable by students. Please provide information on such fees.

SECTION E ENROLMENT STATISTICS

Item 3:

"Students successfully completed the course" refers to students who completed the course of study and satisfied the course requirements leading to the award of the non-local academic qualification.

SECTION G INFORMATION ABOUT THE COURSE CONDUCTED IN HONG KONG AND THE HOME COURSE

You are required to state if there has been any change in the particulars previously reported in respect of the items listed in this section during the reporting period. Please provide the updated information and furnish necessary supporting / approval documents, where appropriate.

Item 3: Mode of delivery

This refers to the change to any of the following modes of delivery you previously indicated in respect of the course in Form 1A or subsequent correspondence:

- Face-to-face tuition only

- Distance learning with face-to-face tuition

- Distance learning without face-to-face tuition

- Others as specified previously

Item 4: Length of course

If there is any change, please state the minimum, standard and maximum course length for the Hong Kong course and for the home course. If there are full-time and part-time programmes for the Hong Kong course and home course, please provide the information for both programmes.

Item 6: English language proficiency requirement

For the home course, this refers to the English language proficiency requirement for international students, i.e. GCSE Grade, TOEFL or IELTS Scores.

Item 8: Course structure and content

This refers to any deletion, addition, or change of subjects / modules, and / or change of credit weighting.

Item 9: Graduation / Completion requirement

This refers to the number of subjects / modules / projects, etc. required to be passed.

Item 10: Assessment scheme

“Assessment elements” refer to written examinations, continuous assessment, thesis / dissertation / project and / or other elements as specified previously.

Item 11: Staff responsible for setting and marking of assignments and examinations

This refers to the type of staff, i.e. the home staff, the Hong Kong staff or both, undertaking the tasks as previously reported.

Item 12: Student support services

This refers to services such as provision of learning materials, library facilities, IT facilities, academic / pastoral tutors, language support, study skills, and etc. as previously reported.

SECTION H REGISTRATION CONDITION(S)

Please list the condition(s) imposed and describe the action taken / being taken correspondingly.

For operators who earlier reported the action taken / to be taken to fulfil the condition(s), the Registrar may have already given some initial feedback on whether the action or the proposed action is adequate. Please indicate the Registrar’s initial feedback in the last column.

SECTION I QUALITY ASSURANCE PROCEDURES

Item 1: Revalidation conducted during the reporting period

Please give details of any revalidation conducted during the reporting period and submit the revalidation report, if any.

Item 2: Quality assurance activities

Please describe the activities which have taken place during the reporting period to assure quality and to maintain the standard of the course in Hong Kong at a level comparable to that of the home course. These activities may include staff visit conducted solely for the purpose of quality assurance or monitoring of the course. Please attach the relevant reports or documents, if any.

SECTION J CURRENT HONG KONG TEACHING STAFF PROFILE

Please give details of the teaching staff profile in Hong Kong. If more space is required, you may make copies of the table or follow the same format in separate sheets.

Where appropriate, you may need to seek the consent of the teaching staff before providing their personal information in the form.

SECTION K TEACHING ACTIVITIES DURING THE REPORTING PERIOD

Please state the total number of student hours for each teaching activity (lecture, tutorial, practical and other supervised activities) conducted in the reporting period. If more space is required, you may make more copies of the table or follow the same format in separate sheets.

Please make sure that you comply with section 5 of the Rules governing the use of premises for conducting the course activities.

SECTION L STUDENT PROFILE (THE LAST INTAKE OF THE REPORTING PERIOD)

Please give details of the student profile in Hong Kong in the last intake of the reporting period. If more space is required, you may make more copies of the table or follow the same format in separate sheets.

SECTION M DECLARATION BY OPERATOR OF THE COURSE

This declaration should be signed by the operator of the course as stated in Section A. If the operator is an institution or a body, it should be signed by the executive head or any person duly authorised by him (the original of the authorisation document should be attached).

SECTION N STATEMENT BY HEAD OF NON-LOCAL INSTITUTION RESPONSIBLE FOR THE AWARD

This statement should be signed by the academic and administrative head of the non-local institution awarding the higher academic qualification which the course leads to. The head normally refers to Vice-Chancellor or President of a university or Principal of a college. For an authorised signatory, it is necessary to attach the original authorisation document issued by the head of the institution.

IMPORTANT NOTE

Please note that any person who makes any false statements or representation of facts will commit an offence as stipulated in section 33 of the Non-local Higher and Professional Education (Regulation) Ordinance. Your attention is drawn to the provisions of the Ordinance, and particularly to:

Section 33(1)

"Any person who in purported compliance with the provisions of this Ordinance or a requirement under this Ordinance makes any statement or representation of facts which is false in a material particular and which -

(a) he knows to be false in such particular; or

(b) he has no reasonable ground to believe to be true in such particular,

commits an offence."

Section 33(2)

"Any person who conceals, destroys, mutilates or falsifies any document or record affecting or relating to the affairs of any course with the intention of -

(a) concealing any offence against this Ordinance or contravention of any condition imposed under section 12; or

(b) obstructing any public officer in the performance of his functions under this Ordinance,

commits an office."

Section 33(3)

"Any person who commits an offence under subsection (1) or (2) is liable on conviction to a fine at level 4 and to imprisonment for 2 years."

- END -

Form 7A Guidance Notes (4/2004)